Have you ever had someone ask for help and they just won’t listen?

This is what this week’s yoga class is all about.

I have a friend that I love dearly. This friend (let’s call him Pete) is kind hearted, he is giving, he is committed, he is loyal, and he has so much to offer the world. He comes to be for advice recognizing that there are some things within his life that are not working. I offer my advice. He seems to take it all in, quietly listening to me, at times even writing notes 😉 and yet…a couple of weeks later, Pete comes back to me with the same issues.

I was wondering if I was missing something?

Was I not being clear?

Nope, I was plenty clear.

What did I have to do in order for Pete to actually listen to me and accept the advice that I was giving?

This really bothered me, and it almost made me want to stop offering help completely. In fact, I did pull away from being available.

As I sat with this situation I began to see a pattern emerge within me. I became utterly conscious of what it takes for someone to truly listen and to accept and act. I chose to look at the way that I did this in my life.

Boy was I in for a surprise!

Well dear ones, I write to you to tell you that I DO THE SAME THING THAT PETE DOES!

Holy cow.

Now there was a realization.

I’ve been complaining, and mulling over very specific issues in my every day life. I’ve received very actionable and highly auspicious advice from people that I love and respect- OFTEN. I have heard them and chosen not to listen to them.

Why? Here are some reasons that I came up with.

Why do we choose not to listen?

The answer that I was getting was not the answer that I was looking for.

I had already decided on the answer, I simply needed confirmation.

I did not want to work hard nor have to step out of my comfort zone.

I didn’t want to truly look at myself and take responsibility for my own actions.

hmmmmmm

This situation has helped me recognize that listening is an artform that requires great humility and honesty. At times recognizing and accepting the truth that is revealed to you is a far greater challenge than maintaining the facade. Once you choose to see it, there’s no going back, you must transform.

Transformation requires skilled action, and at least for me this was the hardest part.

I am now listening, with all of myself, and taking the time to digest and discern (another key teaching) while taking appropriate action when necessary. I feel stronger, I feel calmer and most of all I feel a great sense of joy. It has even helped me be better at being a friend as now I get the opportunity to watch Pete discover listening again, at his own time, in his own way.

Do you listen?

I’d love to hear from you! :

email me- eyogaclass (at) gmail (dot) com

leave me a message- 310 651 6238 (I’d love to play you guys on the episodes! Plus you can promote your stuff that way!)

This week’s online yoga class

I made the peeps at Yoga Matrika work a bit for this one! I did a few demos and lots of handstand work, which I have to say that I did my best to cut out. It doesn’t do well for audio classes 😉 I’ve also posted a little video that gives you a bit more info into getting the culmination pose- Vishvamatrasana! Needless to say, this is a more advanced yoga class.

If you are in Pittsburgh, come on by Yoga Matrika on Monday nights at 6pm for some Anusara Inspired Yoga 🙂

“Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.” – Doug Stowe

In my newsletter I spoke about Labor Day’s beginning as a way to celebrate, honor and give a voice to the working class. I shared my thoughts about the working class being the producers and providers of services. The working class are those whose work demands full engagement of their physical bodies, and a deep immersion into the concrete world around them.

They are the embodied foundation of society.

In the west historically there has been a dissonance between book learning and practical experience. Somehow they’ve been pitted against each other and at times separating society primarily by race and economic status. Some folks scoffed at well learned educated folks, while others looked down on those that worked with their hands. Other times it was the exact opposite, those that chose to go into higher education were not particularly valued in communities with larger population of blue collar workers.

I know what you’re thinking…

How does this apply to yoga?

The applied yogi needs to be BOTH, absolutely visceral and engaged in all things earthy, grounding and primitive, while at the same time having a nimble creative, intelligent and discerning mind.

Come practice and embody these powerful qualities by focusing on your foundation (your worker physical body) and letting that help you serve optimally (your expressive intelligence).

Let yourself re-align and refresh yourself as we began the journey into Fall!

I lost control of my rational thought process and simply dove into a feeling that was suffocating and terrifying. I can’t say that I was in any way comfortable. The only thing that pulled me out of it was my toddler Hunter. She forced me to get out of myself and engage her. The moment that I disconnected from her off I went into a very uncomfortable sense of overwhelm.

I refused this.

Take Control of Your Anxiety and Fear

Instead of allowing myself to be pulled by this avalanche of anxiety and fear I chose to meet it, with softness and full consciousness. I looked at it straight in the eye. I used a technique that I heard in a podcast, and I sooooo wish that I remembered what episode and what this guy’s name was because I would share it, believe me, but at this moment, finding the episode would take me YEARS, so that will wait. I may update this post to add the info.

Anyway, the technique was to feel where the emotion was in my body, fully. You are to notice which was its winding, clock wise or counter clock wise, and slowly unwind the feeling the other way until it dissolves. At first just moving into that hard ball of tension in the middle of my diaphragm was enough…but as I practiced this technique I began to see that I could literally unravel the anxiety!

Unraveling- It’s all about creating space, space to feel, to choose, to remember, and to find your ground. Most importantly, finding space helps you remember that you are part of something so much bigger. Anxiety is about disconnection and isolation. It’s an emotion that rises when you absolutely become limited and small. As you unravel the feeling, you begin to get more spacious, there is literally more room in your body, your breath, your mind, your heart, and you can step back a bit and see things as if you are watching from a bird’s eye view.

You are ok. You truly are. You are more than ok in fact 😀

A couple of days ago I received and email from one of you requesting a more breathing centered practice. Although this simple audio meditation is not specifically about the breath, there is no way to escape the breath. Space is breath.

Every time choose to center myself and incorporate this very accessible and easy meditation practice, you get the opportunity to re-attune yourself to align with something more than anxiety and fear.

I want that!

Listen, practice and do this and tell me what happens! I’d love to hear if this works for you

Recorded Outside Amongst The Bugs!

I had an opportunity to record some videos this weekend. While I was doing that I decided ‘why not film me recording the audio intro for Episode 82 of my podcast?’

So, here it is!

This was the first time that I used my iPhone 4’s memo feature. The audio sounds pretty good huh? I stripped the original audio for the video with the audio from the iPhone 4, to make it sound as clear as possible.

I gotta say, that I was literally eaten alive by all those bugs flying around there! I’m still suffering a crazy amount of mosquito bites. I may consider doing stuff like this more.

What do you think?

Of course if you want to listen and practice along to the full class, here it is!

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